Aaron Boone, a former Bryant Hornets and Bryant Black Sox star himself, e-mailed to let us know that you can vote for Travis Wood as the "Breakout Player of the Year" in the Minor Leagues at http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/index.jsp
The poll is on the lower left-hand side of the page.[more]
Wood, the lefty from Bryant, is expected to pitch tonight for the Louisville Bats in their Class AAA International League playoff opener against the Durham Bulls. After a dominating performance for the Class AA Carolina Mudcats, Wood was promoted to Louisville in July. With Carolina, he lost his first three decisions of the season then won nine in a row (a Carolina franchise record) and post a league-low 1.21 earned run average, fanning 103, walking 37 and allowing just 76 hits in 119 innings while holding opponent batters to a .189 batting average. For that, he was named the league's outstanding pitcher for the season even though he had spent the last month-plus in another league.
Since joining Louisville, he's gone 4-2 with a 3.14 ERA. In 48 2/3 innings, he has struck out 32, walked 16 and allowed 43 hits with opponents batting .240 against him.
There is some speculation that, after his start in the playoffs, Wood may be brought up to the Cincinnati Reds Major League team for the final three weeks of the season, though the Bats might like to have him for the rest of their playoff run.
Wood was selected in the second round of the 2005 Major League draft by the Reds after his stellar high school and American Legion career at Bryant
Everette Hatcher
I voted and at 2pm on Wednesday, Travis is only behind by 305 votes. I also emailed several friends of mine and asked them to vote too. Let’s rally behind one of our own.